London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River and North Thames River, approximately from both Toronto and Detroit; and about from Buffalo. The city of London is politically separate from Middlesex County, though it remains the county seat.
London and the Thames were named after the English city and river in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe, who proposed the site for the capital city of Upper Canada. The first European settlement was established between 1801 and 1804 by Peter Hagerman. The village was founded in 1826 and incorporated in 1855. Since then, London has grown to be the largest southwestern Ontario municipality and Canada's 11th largest metropolitan area with a population of 543,551 according to the 2021 Canadian census, having annexed many of the smaller communities that surround it.
London is a regional centre of healthcare and education, being home to the University of Western Ontario (which brands itself "Western University"), Fanshawe College, and three major hospitals: Victoria Hospital, University Hospital, and St. Joseph's Hospital. The city hosts a number of musical and artistic exhibits and festivals, which contribute to its tourism industry, but its economic activity is centred on education, medical research, manufacturing, financial services, and information technology. London's university and hospitals are among its top ten employers. London lies at the junction of Highways 401 and 402, connecting it to Toronto, Windsor, and Sarnia; these highways also make the Detroit-Windsor, Port Huron-Sarnia, and Niagara Falls border crossings with the United States easily accessible. The city also has railway stations and bus stations and is home to the London International Airport.
History A series of archaeological sites throughout southwestern Ontario, named for the Parkhill Complex excavated near Parkhill, indicate the presence of Paleo-Indians in the area dating back approximately 11,000 years. Just prior to European settlement, the London area was the site of several Attawandaron, Odawa, and Ojibwe villages. The Lawson Site in northwest London is an archaeological excavation and partial reconstruction of an approximately 500-year-old Neutral Iroquoian village, estimated to have been home to 2,000 people. These groups were driven out by the Iroquois by in the Beaver Wars. The Iroquois abandoned the region some 50 years later, driven out by the Ojibwa. An Anishinaabeg community site was described as located near the forks of Thames River (Anishinaabe language: Eshkani-ziibi, "Antler River") in Greg Curnoe, Deeds/Abstracts: The History of a London Lot (Brick Books, London Ontario,1995, ISBN 0-919626-78-5), pgs.41. and was referred to as Pahkatequayang"Missionary work Among The Ojebway Indians chap. 14". PROJECT GUTENBERG. ("Baketigweyaang":"At the River Fork" (lit: at where the by-stream is)).
Settlement
The current location of London was selected as the site of the future capital of Upper Canada in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, who also named the village which was founded in 1826. Originally, Simcoe had proposed to call it Georgiana, in honour of George III, the reigning monarch at that time. It did not become the capital Simcoe envisioned. Rather, it was an administrative seat for the area west of the actual capital, York (now Toronto). The London Township Treaty of 1796 with the Chippewa ceded the original town site on the north bank of the Thames (then known as the Escunnisepe) to Upper Canada. The first dwelling in London, a tavern, was erected by Peter MacGregor in 1826. MacGregor was also the community's first jailer.
London was part of the Talbot Settlement, named for Colonel Thomas Talbot, the chief administrator of the area, who oversaw the land surveying and built the first government buildings for the administration of the western Ontario peninsular region. Together with the rest of southwestern Ontario, the village benefited from Talbot's provisions not only for building and maintaining roads but also for assignment of access priorities to main routes to productive land. Crown and clergy reserves then received preference in the rest of Ontario.
In 1814, the Battle of Longwoods took place during the War of 1812 in what is now Southwest Middlesex, near London. The retreating British Army were staying at Hungerford Hill when they were attacked by the Kentucky Mounted Riflemen.Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 289 In 1827, a settlement was started in Byron when Cyrenius Hall built a gristmill.Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 288
In 1832, the new settlement suffered an outbreak of cholera. London proved a centre of strong Tory support during the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, notwithstanding a brief rebellion led by Charles Duncombe. Consequently, the British government located its Ontario peninsular garrison there in 1838, increasing its population with soldiers and their dependents, and the business support populations they required. London was incorporated as a town in 1840.
On April 13, 1845, a fire destroyed much of London, which was then largely constructed of wooden buildings. One of the first casualties was the town's only fire engine. The fire burned nearly of land, destroying 150 buildings, before it burned itself out later that day. One fifth of London was destroyed in the province's first million-dollar fire.
Development
John Carling, Tory MP for London, gave three events to explain the development of London in a 1901 speech: the location of the court and administration in London in 1826, the arrival of the military garrison in 1838, and the arrival of the railway in 1853.
The population in 1846 was 3,500. Brick buildings included a jail and court house, and large barracks. London had a fire company, a theatre, a large Gothic church, nine other churches or chapels, and two market buildings. The buildings that were destroyed by fire in 1845 were mostly rebuilt by 1846. Connection with other communities was by road, using mainly stagecoaches that ran daily. A weekly newspaper was published and mail was received daily by the post office. Two villages named Petersville and Kensington once stood where downtown London now is.Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 319 Petersville was founded by Samuel Peters in 1853. Kensington was founded around about 1878.Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 320 Petersville and Kensington were amalgamated on March 4, 1881, to form London West.Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 321
On January 1, 1855, London was incorporated as a city (10,000 or more residents). In the 1860s, a sulphur spring was discovered at the forks of the Thames River while industrialists were drilling for oil. The springs became a popular destination for wealthy Ontarians, until the turn of the 20th century when a textile factory was built at the site, replacing the spa.
Records from 1869 indicate a population of about 18,000 served by three newspapers, churches of all major denominations and offices of all the major banks. Industries included several tanneries, oil refineries and foundries, four flour mills, the Labatt Brewing Company and the Carling brewery in addition to other manufacturing companies such as EMCO Wheaton. Both the Great Western and Grand Trunk railways had stops here. Several insurance companies also had offices in the city.
The Crystal Palace Barracks, an octagonal brick building with eight doors and forty-eight windows built in 1861, was used for events such as the Provincial Agricultural Fair of Canada West held in London that year. It was visited by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn; Governor-General John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar; and Prime Minister John A. Macdonald.
Long before the Royal Military College of Canada was established in 1876, there were proposals for military colleges in Canada. Staffed by British Regulars, adult male students underwent three-month-long military courses from 1865 at the School of Military Instruction in London. Established by Militia General Order in 1865, the school enabled Officers of Militia or Candidates for Commission or promotion in the Militia to learn Military duties, drill and discipline, to command a Company at Battalion Drill, to Drill a Company at Company Drill, the internal economy of a Company and the duties of a Company's Officer. The school was not retained at Confederation, in 1867.Richard Preston 'Canada's RMC: A History of the Royal Military College of Canada' published by the RMC Club by U of Toronto Press.
In 1875, London's first iron bridge, the Blackfriars Street Bridge, was constructed. It replaced a succession of flood-failed wooden structures that had provided the city's only northern road crossing of the river. A rare example of a wrought iron bowstring arch through truss bridge, the Blackfriars remains open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, though it was temporarily closed indefinitely to vehicular traffic due to various structural problems and was once again reopened to vehicular traffic December 1, 2018. The Blackfriars, amidst the river-distance between the Carling Brewery and the historic Tecumseh Park (including a major mill), linked London with its western suburb of Petersville, named for Squire Peters of Grosvenor Lodge. That community joined with the southern subdivision of Kensington in 1874, formally incorporating as the municipality of Petersville. Although it changed its name in 1880 to the more inclusive "London West", it remained a separate municipality until ratepayers voted for amalgamation with London in 1897, largely due to repeated flooding. The most serious flood was in July 1883, which resulted in serious loss of life and property devaluation. This area retains much original and attractively maintained 19th-century tradespeople's and workers' housing, including Georgian cottages as well as larger houses, and a distinct sense of place. In 1897, London West was annexed to London.Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 322